Tag Archives: Avro

Club members and volunteers had a fantastic balsam bash on 2nd July, in some slightly changeable weather where sunscreen and wellies were needed, all in one morning! There were 16 volunteers in all, including three children who contributed over 40 volunteer hours in total.

Although there is a still a lot of balsam found in the nearby Dairyhouse Wood, the volume of balsam in some areas of the woodland has really decreased thanks to consistent control work in these areas year on year. Now these small areas are under control, the golf club and its volunteers can look to begin work in other areas of the woodland.

The working party on Saturday did just that, and were rewarded with lots of sandwiches and fruit pies in the Clubhouse afterwards. Thank you to everyone that took part in the bash and contributed to keeping the River Dean free of invasive species. At least you won’t be winning the wooden spoon for ‘Wettest Balsam Bash’ this year!

A group of 18 volunteers met up at Avro Golf Club, in Woodford, on a very wet and overcast morning last Saturday.

We met at the Club House and went over the plan for the day before heading out. The plan was to control as much Himalayan Balsam as we possibly could in a woodland that borders the golf club, and is causing problems for the green keepers and players as the spreads its seeds onto the course. There really is no shortage of the stuff round here with the balsam over 8′ tall in some places!

Not to be deterred by the bad weather the group got stuck in after a short walk along the river to get to the woodland.

With both BEACON volunteers and golf club staff and members getting involved we were able to make a great dent in the balsam that we found in the woodland. Some volunteers concentrated on creating a ‘fire break’; clearing the balsam on the borders between the woodland and the gold course, and thus stopping the spread onto the golf greens.

Everyone was really ethusiastic despite the terrible rain that soaked everyone, and the volunteers ranged in age from 3 to 86!

Everyone was made to feel welcome by the golf club, and both lots of volunteers (young and old), got on like a house on fire by the end of the day.

After a thorough soaking we were all really grateful for the tea, sandwiches and cake provided by the golf club, and some of the men enjoyed a pint from the bar!

We will repeat this event next year (hoping for some sunshine next time), so keep lookng out on the BEACON events pages for more information.

Choose Beacon As Your Co-Op Local Cause

BEACON has recently been chosen as one of the Co-op’s Local Community Fund causes for the next six months. During this time, Co-op members can choose which of their local causes to support, through purchases they make with the Co-op, will raise funds for their chosen cause.

1% of your spend goes to the local cause you chose to support.

To find out more about this, and to support BEACON as your Co-op local cause please click the link here